


Heartless

by double_negative



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, just a sad thing i had on my mind, there're literally no proper tags for this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 08:30:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10356363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/double_negative/pseuds/double_negative
Summary: Vamp and Raiden continue to meet despite their fight being over.





	

**Author's Note:**

> AU where everything is the same except Vamp lives.  
> Set some time after Revengeance, but that barely matters.  
> I just needed to work through something for myself.

The more time passes, the more they see each other. It starts simple, stumbling upon one another in some random city, on some random mission, another fool's errand set up by their benefactors. At first, it seems like a coincidence, that two people can meet even while they travel around the world, but the more time passes, the more it seems like fate to both of them.

After all, their war is long over. They're not enemies anymore, even if they still fight for what they believe in or because it pays well, they're no longer at the different sides of a conflict, no longer at each other's throats. They brawl sometimes, of course, because both of them still have a lot of pent-up anger and it feels good to spar with someone who wouldn't break easily. Someone who would understand. It's never serious, because they both know, the other one couldn't be killed. Not anymore. Damaged, bruised, torn to pieces, but never completely destroyed.

It's a camaraderie of sorts, a badge of honor for surviving everything, outliving everyone. The most unlikely type of relationship without any proper name to it. They're not friends and they never would be. They just find each other at the most unpredictable times. They spar and they drink and sometimes they even talk. Sometimes it's more physical.

Like when Raiden threads his clawed fingers through Vamp's hair, flush against the wall, his shoulderblades digging against concrete with force that would have hurt anyone else, he finds himself wondering. Why are they doing this? It's not like it's something he can enjoy anymore. Vamp's breath is barely noticeable against the skin of his cheek, not warm enough to belong to a human being.

"It's written all over your face, pretty boy", Vamp chuckles, that deep smooth voice that is more intimate to Raiden than any touch they have shared. Raiden can only grunt in response, when Vamp's fingers pry his body away from the wall just enough to slip further, leaving traces of touches against his spine. Vamp knows him so well, after all. Knows exactly what parts of him are still there, still human. "You think too much, not everything has a reason".

Raiden knows better than to trust Vamp's words. As long as there's that smoulder in his blood-red eyes, as long as those fingers are all over his body. There must be a motive, some underlining intention, something to gain. And still he finds nothing.

Maybe there's really no reason to why they start seeking each other out after a while. Two wounded souls sticking together. Not for sentimentality or healing, but just because they need some company. They're not so different at all, as it turns out. Both losing everything at a very young age, both man-made weapons, twisted into monstrosities they are by the neverending war. War that no longer belongs to either of them. Two cold-blooded killers trapped inside artificial flesh.

Still, every time Raiden tries to figure out, what is it, the bond that they share, Vamp steps away. He evades the question, sometimes even gets angry and everything ends in a huge fight. Broken bones and sparks flying. Red blood mixing with white.

They still see each other after another falling out. Like nothing has ever happened. Until the question of feelings is brought up again.

"Why don't you run back to your family, Jack?", Vamp's words cut worse than a sword, but then, what's a blade to an unfeeling body? "They must miss you so much, and here you are, running for me like you always do." He's taunting Raiden, looking for another fight, an aggravating smirk dancing on his thin lips. When Raiden struggles to respond, he continues. "But of course. They would never understand. They barely even know your true nature. Barely even know who you are. There's not a person in the world that knows you like I do."

And Raiden knows it's the truth, but it still makes him feel something like guilt. It's minute, fleeting, because rage is so much stronger, rage always wins over in his mind and the words he speaks are cruel, biting, almost a snarl. "Is that your idea of a love confession?"

Vamp just laughs, "Oh no, I am afraid I no longer have a heart for such a feeling". He taps against his chest and Raiden recalls stabbing him there once. There's no scar anymore, but the image is crystal clear in Raiden's mind. Thick red blood, trickling down olive skin, a quick pained grunt and then a huff of a laughter. Raiden recalls fear, fear that you only can feel when you encounter something so horrifyingly wrong, against every law of nature or common sense. The first and the second and all the other times he killed Vamp. All the times they nearly killed each other even after they became close. He also remembers lying next to Vamp on a bed in another shoddy hotel, a different kind of fear when you can't sleep and you try to locate another's heartbeat, but the body against yours is unmoving, silent, so cold it might as well have been a corpse.

A heart. Do you really need a heart to be attached to somebody? Do you really need one to feel something for another person? If that's true, then Raiden himself could never love anyone anymore.

Maybe it's better that way. For both of them. Heartless creatures stuck in an endless stalemate until something happens and tears them apart. Maybe one day one of them would finally die at the hands of another. When it happens, Raiden hopes he would remember he's not supposed to feel anything. Even when losing one of their kind, monsters aren't supposed to grieve.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry it sucks.  
> I want to eventually write smut for those two, but I'm not capable of giving them justice yet.  
> So just have a feelsy thing.


End file.
